Applications

spanning across broad industries

Call for applications information: +1 (586) 580-4048

Automotive & Transportation

Tooling Tech offers tooling solutions and more for the entire vehicle platform.

Whether you’re looking for a single source for your automotive tooling, secondary tooling or an advanced automation solution to improve your operational efficiency, Tooling Tech Group’s capabilities can help you deliver quality components for just about every part of a vehicle.

Additionally, we have an in-house foundry and seven stamping presses for try-out and production runs to simplify your supply chain.

Serving a Variety of Vehicle Tooling

In addition to automotive, we also provide tooling solutions for the heavy truck, bus and rail industries.

BLOW MOLDS

Duct work

Fuel tanks

Under-the-hood fluid reservoirs

COMPRESSION MOLDS

Body side molding

Bumper systems

Carpet and floor assemblies

Class-A automotive body panels

Die-cut insulation

Door and floor insulation panels

Fascia

Ground effects

Headliners

Heavy truck body panels

Inserts and décor

Wheel housings

DIE CAST TOOLING

Brackets

Cam carriers

Converter housings

Engine blocks

Gear cases

Head covers

Transmission cases and covers

Valve bodies

Stamping Dies – Progressive and Transfer

Thermoform Tooling

Race car bodies and windscreens

Truck Bed Liners

Waterjet Tooling

Acoustical materials trim fixture

Body panels and fascia

Carpet trim fixtures

Interior systems trimming

Checking Stations

Bumpers

Carpets

Dash components

Fascia

Floor assemblies

Stamped metal parts

Thermal-acoustic panels

Wheel well liners

Automated Solutions For:

Assembly

Bonding

Fastening

Material Handling

SCADA

Test and Inspection

Welding

Real World Applications

Click on a bullet point below to view the case study for the real world application.

TOOLING

Corvette Z06

Ford Ranger

Limited Edition Mustang Bullitt

Heavy Truck

Ford F-150 Raptor

Jeep Wrangler Sahara

SECONDARY & AUTOMATED SOLUTIONS

Checking Station

Automated Drill, Route, and Joining Cells

Foam Cell

Floor Bonder

Heavy Truck Single Cycle Bonding Station

Aerospace & Defense

Serving a broad range of major aerospace customers with award-winning quality.

We build tooling, fixtures and components for high-level aerospace and defense programs during the manufacturing process as well as for maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO). And, we’re proud to say that we have consistently received the Boeing Performance Excellence Award, achieving either the gold or silver category for eight of the last nine years. This places us in the top 1% of Boeing’s suppliers for quality & delivery.

AEROSPACE EXPERIENCE

Common aerospace items in our portfolio include:

Build to Print Work*

LJ (Locating Jigs)

BJ (Bond Jigs)

LM (Layup Mandrels)

HRF (Hand Router Fixtures)

OHME (Over Head Mechanical Equipment)

DJ (Drill Jigs)

Wing Spars

*(“fly-parts” are not included in our capabilities at this time.)

Thermoform Tooling for Aircraft Interiors

Tray Tables

Storage Bins

Seat Backs

Arm Rests

Trim

Compression Molds for Structural Components

Our Aerospace Customers

Tooling Tech Group serves a broad range of major aerospace customers, including:

Home Goods & Appliance

From refrigerators in the home to fuel tanks in lawn mowers, from small sprayer bottles to bookshelves to swimming pools, we provide different mold and tooling technologies to meet just about any household need.

Blow Molds. Compression Molds. Rotational Molds. Thermoform Tooling.

Appliances

Bathtubs

Bookshelves

Dehumidifiers

Drainage Tiles & Systems

Field Tiles

Flower Pots

Fountains

Garage Door Panels

Garbage Cans

Garden Ponds

Hot Tubs

Lawn Tractor Fuel Tanks

Luggage

Shower Base Inserts

Showers

Spas

Sprayer Bottles

Storage Bins

Swimming Pools

Tool Boxes

Toys

Water Softeners, and more...

Real World Applications

Mower Tank

Converting Rotational to Blow Mold

While working with a mower manufacturer, Tooling Tech Group engineers were able to design and convert an existing rotational molded tank into a blow molded program very effectively in an effort to add efficiency and savings to the customer. Using industry experience and knowledge, the team designed a fold up mounting tab verses a conventional injection molded HPW solution.

The design focus allowed the processor to start up the program without a custom injection tab, saving over $25k in tooling costs. Furthermore, over the life of the program the savings per part would continue producing the tank more efficiently than the rotational method.

Marine & Recreation

Providing tooling for a wide variety of leisure and power sports activities.

BLOW MOLDS

Fuel tanks

COMPRESSION MOLDS

Boat Panels

DIE CAST TOOLING

ATV Fenders, Hoods

Boat Hulls

Canoes

Golf Cart Fenders

Kayaks

Motorcycle Fenders, Hoods

Medical

Tooling for manufacturing medical devices and equipment.

Tooling Tech offers thermoforming tools for the manufacture of a wide variety of medical devices and hospital equipment. We are experts in all types of thermoform tooling including vacuum form, pressure form, heavy-gauge, thin-gauge, and twin-sheet thermoforming. Our thermoform tooling engineers have the experience to help you design and implement tooling programs to produce any variety of thermoformed plastic components, such as:

DEVICES, TESTING & Gear

ECMO Machines

MRI Machines

Respirators

Test Kits

Bag Valve Masks

Goggles

N95 Masks

EQUIPMENT

Dental Chairs

Hospital Beds

Hospital Cleaning Machinery - scrubbers, sweepers, vacuums

Mobile Workstations

MORTUARY EQUIPMENT

Body Bags

Coffins

Cremation Units

Emergency & Disaster Relief Bed

Near the start of the Covid 19 crisis, Tooling Tech Group was contacted by long-time customers Trienda and Penda regarding their need for thermoform tooling to produce Emergency & Disaster Relief Beds. Normally serving the automotive industry, the companies were collaborating to provide much-needed hospital beds. To address this situation, TTG manufactured and delivered the bed base and backrest molds within 10 days instead of the typical 5-6 weeks. This fast response allowed the two companies to quickly move toward their goal of producing 3,000 beds per day at the Penda facility near Madison, WI, a 300,000 sq. ft. facility, which was retooled for this project.

Videos

Robotic Vision

Snap Press Tool 1

Snap Press Tool 2

Robotic Sonic Welder

Robotic Cutter

Heavy Gauge Pallet System

Bumper Punch

Some of our valued customers

Contact Us

For more applications information, fill out the form or give us a call at: +1 (586) 580-4048

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About Us

Since our initial founding, we have earned a reputation for manufacturing the highest quality tooling for casting, molding, forging and stamping. We also produce secondary automated solutions to transform parts into assemblies and functional products used around the world. We do so by applying our expertise and the latest technology, techniques, and CNC equipment to design, engineer, manufacture and test your tooling. In all that we do, you can rely on us to deliver on time, every time.

Privacy Policy

CORVETTE Z06

Tooling Tech Group has long history of providing compression molds for various body panels on the Chevrolet Corvette, most recently providing these panels on the 2018 Z06 model. The C6 Z06, originally introduced in 2006, was recognized for its use of advanced materials including an aluminum frame, magnesium roof structure, engine cradle and other suspension attachment points as well as carbon fiber panels for the front fenders, front wheelhouses and rear fenders.

FORD RANGER

Ford’s research into improved efficiency through weight reduction with advanced materials including new metals, alloys and composites began more than 25 years ago. Although the new 2019 Ranger features a high strength steel frame, the company is employing composite truck beds and body panels to help reduce vehicle weight. Other highlights include frame-mounted steel bumpers, an aluminum hood and tailgate, and standard automatic emergency braking and rearview camera.

Limited Edition Mustang Bullitt

This vehicle, commemorating the movie Bullitt starring Steve McQueen, was ‘the thing” at the 2018 Detroit Auto Show. To match the original movie car, this version is light on external badging and painted in the same dark green. However, the original was a steel vehicle and today’s version features composite panels.

Heavy Truck

From the sleekest and sexiest of vehicles to the biggest boys on the highway, Tooling Tech Group provides molds for many heavy truck manufacturers. When you look at the size of these cabs, you can just imagine the weight reduction being achieved by the usage of composite materials.

Ford F-150 Raptor

Originally introduced in 2010, this performance truck shed 500 pounds in its 2017 iteration with a new aluminum body as well as composite hood and front fenders. This 2018 model has the same features, proving that lightweight materials can tough out off-road driving.

Jeep Wrangler Sahara

In these days of lightweighting, it’s not only performance vehicles that benefit from composite structures. Introduced in 1987, the Jeep Wrangler has become an icon and popular across the world. With the 2018 model re-design, engineers were able to drop 200 pounds from the vehicle by employing aluminum bodywork and composite hardtop panels, with molds supplied by Tooling Tech Group. The frame is also 100 pounds lighter through extensive use of high strength steel.

Checking Station

Eliminating Human Error

We supplied our customer with a solution for welding two components together, where clinch nuts were already pressed in prior to welding. After welding, manual processes included the insertion of two push pins for a wiring harness operation and the application of a piece of double-sided tape. However, 10 – 15% of the components were being sent to quarantine due to missing parts.

Tooling Tech developed a fixturing station for assembly and a checking station to verify part presence. Once the part is welded, it is manually moved to the assembly station where the pin and tape are put in place. The part is then moved to the checking station where the part is clamped in place, and it goes through an automated checking cycle. Using a variety of sensors, the presence of the tape, clinch nuts and pins are all verified. This has saved the customer about $10,000/week.

Automated Drill, Route, and Joining Cells

From Four Machines to a Single Line

Our customer needed to produce two versions of a composite automotive part that required the routing of 100 holes and the application of 65 float nuts along with some rivet studs. In addition, they wanted a fully automated solution with +0.25mm tolerance on the holes, zero dust emission and a cycle time of just over three minutes. The customer thought it would take four machines to accomplish this.

Tooling Tech developed a solution that could route all the holes in a single orientation during a continuous process while using a minimum amount of floorspace. The process starts with the operator manually loading the part on a wall fixture where the automated cycle then starts. The part is clamped in place, the part style verified via a sensor, and several holes are drilled. The wall then rotates 180 degrees and a handling robot picks up the part and places it into the route cell where four robots cut about 65 holes. Each robot has a vacuum unit at its head and collects the dust during the routing process.

The handling robot then moves the part to the rivet nut station where two robots apply 66 float nuts, fed to the robots via a pneumatic tube. The nuts go in and are crimped using amperage as an indicator if the nut is properly secured. At the end of this process, all six robots communicate with the material handling robot to determine good or bad part.

Floor Bonder

Combining Manual and Automated Processes

In this instance our customer asked us to develop a process to bond steel and composite brackets, apply glue and drill holes in a new 2.5 ft x 4 ft component in right-hand and left-hand styles.

In our process, the operator loads the component into the drill where six holes are drilled. The operator then takes the part and puts it into a loading nest where the robot picks up the part and moves it under a stationary dispensing head that applies the glue for the bracket reinforcements. While the glue is being applied, the operator is loading the brackets into the next station. Once these actions are completed, the robot then loads the part into the nest at the manual station and the assembly press closes automatically to complete the bonding process. A mix of two to three operators and one robot results in an efficient cycle time of 3 to 3.5 minutes

Heavy Truck Single Cycle Bonding Station

Proprietary Joining Solutions for Big Boy Toys

In this process, the heavy truck components (about 5-ft x 7-ft in size) are kept in a glue/bond apply station where a robot travels along a shuttle applying the adhesive to the different stations. The operator then manually loads the components in the front half of the cell and six components on the other side of the cell. The side with six components pivots up and is merged with the stationary side with the three components. The cycle then starts where cylinders are engaged to apply the pressure to finalize the bond

Foam Cell

Confidential Design to Processing Multiple Part Styles

Our customer provided us the spec sheet outlining the time, temperature and recipe for a foam mix that needed to be applied in order to complete the manufacture of four different composite components.

We developed an automated dual line solution with two 6-axis robots and two shuttles functioning as axis 7 and 8 as the shuttle movements are interlocked with the robots. The operator loads the component on the fixture device and as the shuttle moves, the first robot arm is programmed to apply the foam. This robot then moves out of the way and the second robot moves in and measures the foam bead via a laser measuring system to ensure the right amount was applied. This robot then picks and place the component in the oven. Overall cycle time is 85.9 seconds.